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Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies

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Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies

#101

Post by jackpeterfletch »

Trasmatta wrote: post #74

I've seen a similar effect in a subset of people that get super into psychedelics. In some cases, they seem to lead to a hyper inflated ego. > Yet a growing body of research suggests that such stories may be surprisingly common, with one study from 2019 showing that at least 25% of regular meditators have experienced adverse events, from panic attacks and depression to an unsettling sense of “dissociation”. The 25% n…

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/cover-story/id15946753...

The initial episode covers a story closer to a cult. But later this podcast reflects a lot of what you’ve mentioned anecdotally with respect to to modern psychedelic research.

Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies

#102

Post by neltnerb »

vmception wrote: post #87
neltnerb wrote: post #22

True Story. I was newly moved to San Francisco and enrolled in a meditation course on literally loving-kindness (they were all mindfulness, this was a focused seminar). When I was on my way in someone was having a mental health emergency right outside the front door and looked to clearly need care. Not knowing who to call for this since I didn't live in the city, and definitely not wanting to call cops, I went in and…

and how do you act after no longer being newly moved to San Francisco? that incident was imprinted in you, but how has it worked out for you since? my guess: you failed to learn anything because of course that focused seminar doesn't teach anything related to the kind of mental health emergencies that occur on San Francisco streets, and so thats a decent crutch for you to lean on to not engage with them yourself, ove…

Putting a few numbers in your phone is something I did and would recommend to others in whatever city is relevant. These can of course come in handy regardless of whether you practice mindfulness meditation.

My point was that the context of a class on loving-kindness was especially jarring. I fully advocate for everyone to take a class on basic first aid and know who to contact in response to a few basic classes of emergency, that seems as basic as having clean water in your house in case of an earthquake.

I can perform CPR, stop blood loss within reason, or call someone that knows how to do things I don't. I'm very happy to take suggestions for other skills that should be commonly known to be good community members.

https://sfgov.org/dosw/mental-health-services

Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies

#104

Post by salty_biscuits »

babyshake wrote: post #42
IdEntities wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know that it's necessarily fair to describe this as a purely Western phenomenon. The Lamas were a hereditary elite who ruled over Tibet in a brutal caste system which reduced most of the people in it to the status of serfs, and all with their own particular strain of Buddhism used to justify and excuse it all. On our fridge, my wife has a picture of the Dalai Lama wearing a big fancy watch on his wrist. I alw…

In a way, it is good for a famous spiritual leader to have obvious human flaws. I don't know too much about modern Buddhism but I don't think it would be good for Buddhists to worship their leader as being more than a mere mortal who might enjoy wearing a fancy watch.

The dalai llama is believed to be the literal reincarnation of the bodhisattva of compassion, so not a mere mortal.

Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies

#105

Post by haswell »

LightG wrote: post #84
TheDong wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you lived in a large city with a very apparent homelessness crisis, such as san francisco? The homeless in places like SF are routinely experiencing serious emergencies, invariably need money and shelter, and are passed by tens of thousands of people each day who have the abilities to help them. Of those tens of thousands of people who pass a homeless person who's clearly in need of help, perhaps 100 will give t…

First question: Yes. The rest: conflation.

> The rest: conflation.

Conflation with what?

Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies

#106

Post by randomsearch »

ramraj07 wrote: post #45
danielvaughn wrote: post #43

Having lived in Boulder CO for several years, which is basically the Mecca of Americanized mindfulness, I can attest that this is true. The most ardent practitioners that I met were invariably self obsessed.

I spent a week in Denver and boulder and continuously got the eerie vibe that every person I met who moved there, is an example of the most self centered person I would have met in any other situation elsewhere. I suppose the type of young person who’d move to CO “for the outdoors” is gonna select for the trend. Everything, including the assholish cycling, was indicative of that. Noped out of that place for this reas…

Could you expand on the “for the outdoors” comment and explain why those people are self centred? Assuming this must be an American cultural thing

Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies

#107

Post by randomsearch »

nabla9 wrote: post #91
NavinF wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I genuinely can’t tell if this is sarcasm.

I have meditated over 20 years roughly 2 hours per day. I think it finally starts to work.

Do you worry about the opportunity cost of that time?

Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies

#108

Post by jackdawed »

zozbot234 wrote: post #41
doelie_ wrote: post #30

Vipassana style meditation (minfulness) should always be combined with Metta (lovingkindness), especially for westerners. That's the advice I keep seeing.

Vipassana is insight meditation, not mindfulness and not really appropriate for beginners. The closest equivalent to mindfulness would be concentration, or samadhi.

One of the core practices of insight meditation (Vipassana) is to be mindful of your inner thoughts, like through "noting", and observe them through the lenses of the 3 characteristics. You use one-pointedness concentration (Samadhi) to tune into these thoughts. You can also do Samadhi without Vipassana, as many yogis have, but you cannot do Vipassana without a baseline concentration ability. Some people use mindfulness meditation and Vipassana interchangeably, but it is not entirely accurate, yeah. Mindfulness is only one exercise of the broader insight meditation (Vipassana).

Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies

#109

Post by [deleted] »

ramraj07 wrote: post #51

Whenever someone talks about mindfulness or stoicism, the name that pops to my head is Tim Ferris. Like a less crappier Joe Rogan with an actual brain maybe? I still listen to some of his podcast episodes because he gets guests who I want to learn about. But oh my god the narcissism! I get it the podcast is about success and how to succeed, but for the love of god try to take your head out of your own ass for a minut…

[deleted]

Re: Emerging evidence that mindfulness can sometimes increase selfish tendencies

#110

Post by jackdawed »

nprateem wrote: post #94
BiteCode_dev wrote: post #35

I spent a year in a meditation center, and the results vary a lot from person to person, because what somebody needs right now in life is different from everybody else. Some people will need to become more discreet, while some people need to take more space, some people need to be less materialistic, while others need to accept to use material for their own comfort, some people need to play more, some need to work mo…

Did you get enlightened? I'm thinking of spending a few months on retreat soon. I've always wanted to have an awakening.

I'm on the third stage of enlightenment, if you have any questions about my day to day experience.
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